Copeland Steel v. Miles, 88-629
| Decision Date | 06 January 1989 |
| Docket Number | No. 88-629,88-629 |
| Citation | 536 So.2d 1179,14 Fla. L. Weekly 132 |
| Parties | 14 Fla. L. Weekly 132 COPELAND STEEL and CNA Insurance Co., Appellants, v. Walter MILES, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Wendell J. Kiser, of Zimmerman, Shuffield, Kiser & Sutcliffe, P.A., Orlando, for appellants.
Irvin A. Meyers and Howard G. Butler, of Meyers and Mooney, P.A., Orlando, for appellee.
The employer/carrier (E/C) in this workers' compensation case appeal an order entered by the deputy commissioner (DC) awarding the claimant permanent wage-loss benefits, remedial medical treatment, and costs, and reserving jurisdiction to award attorney's fees. We affirm in part, reverse, and remand.
The claimant in this case was injured in a compensable accident on June 9, 1982, resulting in both orthopedic and psychiatric injuries. The E/C paid temporary total benefits following the accident through June 22, 1983 (the date determined by the E/C to be the date of orthopedic maximum medical improvement) and wage-loss benefits from June 23, 1983 through June 30, 1984. In 1985, the DC denied a claim for wage-loss benefits and chiropractic treatment, and reaffirmed June 22, 1983 as the date of MMI. In June, July and August of 1987, claimant was treated on four occasions by a psychiatrist, Dr. Gutman. Claimant subsequently filed a claim seeking wage-loss benefits from October 1, 1985 through October 30, 1987, payment of Dr. Gutman's bills, and future treatment by Gutman.
At the December 1987 hearing on this claim, Dr. Gutman testified by deposition that the claimant had sustained psychiatric injuries as a result of his industrial accident and would have a permanent psychiatric impairment, but that he had not yet reached MMI from those injuries. In his February 1988 order following the hearing, the DC noted Dr. Gutman's testimony regarding psychiatric MMI, and stated "I find no valid reason to change his status from wage-loss to being temporarily totally or temporarily partially disabled unless there is a change in his medical condition." The DC awarded wage-loss benefits for the claimed period, and directed the E/C to pay Dr. Gutman's past bills and to provide future psychiatric treatment by Gutman. The E/C raise three issues on appeal: (1) whether the DC erred in awarding wage-loss benefits where the evidence failed to establish that the claimant conducted an adequate job search for the period from October 1, 1985 through October 30, 1987; (2) whether...
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...reached MMI as to all conditions caused by the compensable injury to be entitled to permanent indemnity benefits. Copeland Steel v. Miles, 536 So.2d 1179 (Fla. 1st DCA 1989). ...
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...maximum medical improvement ("MMI") only for his orthopedic condition but not for his psychiatric condition. Copeland Steel v. Miles, 536 So.2d 1179, 1180-81 (Fla. 1st DCA1989); Fuchs Baking Co. v. Estate of Szlosek, 466 So.2d 415 (Fla. 1st DCA1985); Cumberland Farm Food Stores v. Meier, 40......
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Daws Mfg. Co., Inc. v. Ostoyic
...injuries, MMI must be reached as to both before permanent benefits may be awarded. Indeed, this court held in Copeland Steel v. Miles, 536 So.2d 1179, 1181 (Fla. 1st DCA 1989), that, where a claimant has both psychiatric and orthopedic injuries, permanent benefits may not be awarded prior t......